


Electric Rage

by trappistk28



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cop/Detective AU, Drugs, Gang, Kidnapping, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2018-12-10 05:51:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11685393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trappistk28/pseuds/trappistk28
Summary: Drugs. Gangs. Kidnapping. It was more than Officer Kogane thought he was capable of. Yet, there he was, with his rookie partner, his cousin of a detective, and some kid just looking for her brother, trying to take on the worst gang in the country.





	1. Chapter 1

 

“Are you sure you don’t want a donut?” The powdered sugar on the donut fell all over the car seat as Hunk spoke. “I have enough. There’s chocolate and cinnamon and jelly and if you’re not a fan of flavored ones I have glazed but I also have a chocolate glazed and—“ 

“Hunk,” Keith looked over at his partner. “We’re on a stakeout. I’m trying to focus here.” 

Hunk swallowed and nodded, slowly putting his half eaten donut back in the box and placing it on his lap, surprising his partner. Hunk always finished his food, even if he was nervous. Something must really be wrong for him to put away his donut. “Sorry, I just get nervous on these kinds of things. What if the guy gets away? What if they have a gun and start shooting? What if  _ we _ have to start shooting? What if—“ 

Keith sighed. So that was it. “That’s not going to happen, Hunk. I promise. We go in and catch the guy in the act. That’s it. Okay? Nothing’s going to happen.”  

Hunk just nodded as he wiped the powdered sugar off his fingers for the third time. Keith sighed again. This rookie would be the death of him one day, but he’d be damned if he let anything hurt the guy. Hunk may have been a nervous wreck, but he had a good head on his shoulders. The other officers in the precinct refused to see anything past the nervousness, but Keith saw it. He saw it in Hunk’s results from the academy. He saw it in the way Hunk listened to problems, thought, and responded. He saw it in the way Hunk was able to be level headed when needed. And he saw it in the way Hunk solved the precinct’s most recent series of crimes.

Reports of several robberies flooded the precinct for weeks. Not a single officer was able to find any type of connection or pattern between the houses hit, making it near impossible for them to even attempt to catch the thief. The media practically went on a field day with every house robbed, slandering the good name of every officer that walked through the doors of the precinct. They raked Captain Slav through the mud as an incompetent leader who couldn’t even arrest a common thief. 

Hunk, however, was the one to save the captain his job, much to everyone’s surprise. He looked over the file and was the only one who was able to make the connection: Holt Industries. Every single person robbed donated millions to the company for reasons no one except the Holt family themselves knew. The money didn’t matter to the police, only the connection. According to Hunk, there was only one other person that donated a copious amount of money to the company. There was only one other hit for the thief. That’s why Captain Slav put Keith and Hunk together. That’s why the two were sitting in Keith’s old Volkswagen, across the street from a very expensive Brownstone apartment.

The rookie pointed at the building of interest. “That’s our guy, right? That’s Rolo?” Sure enough, a tall man walked out of the building, fixing the cuffs on his suit jacket. He ran a Rolex adorned hand through his hair and nodded at the officers, walking down the steps and away from the apartment. 

Keith hated Rolo. He was a typical stick up their ass rich man. He was one of the wealthiest men in the country, but what did he have to show for it? Multiple arrests for driving under the influence and possession of drugs, that’s what. Keith remembered Rolo being under review for smuggling and selling for a gang a few years back. It was one of the biggest scandals the city had ever seen, but the case was never truly solved. All the evidence found was destroyed in a fire that burned down half of the precinct. Without any of the evidence, it was hard to even get the courts to acknowledge the case. Rolo went free. 

Now the police were trying to save one criminal from another. It made Keith’s blood boil just thinking about it. But he had to do what he had to do, and stopping this thief would at least put someone away. 

“And now we wait.” Hunk said, breaking Keith from his thoughts. He nodded and turned on the tablet sitting on his lap. 

Hunk stopped by the apartment earlier that day to set up cameras around the apartment with Rolo’s permission and supervision. Wherever the officer went, the businessman did too. It got to the point where Hunk forced Rolo to either help him or sit down and let him work. Rolo’s signature smirk thinned into a fine line as he took a seat at his dining table and watched Hunk install the last of the cameras.

Keith glanced through the different video feeds on his tablet.The windows, front, and back doors were closed and locked. All the video cameras were up and running. Everything looked good. “And now we wait.”

As it got closer and closer to midnight, Keith couldn’t help but doubt his partner’s abilities. At first, the two vigilantly watched the screen on Keith’s lap. That quickly changed when Hunk was practically leaning over his partner’s shoulder because Keith kept shifting in his seat and moving where the tablet sat. They decided that it would be better if they switched watch. While one watched, the other could rest their eyes. They found that staring at a tablet screen for hours wasn’t a very easy on the eyes and just made them more tired.

“Keith,” Hunk said, breaking Keith from his thoughts. “Something’s not right with the camera feed.” Hunk pointed at the tablet in his partner’s hands. “Look.”

Keith grabbed the tablet from his partner, but he couldn’t see anything wrong. There were just the views of the different rooms, nothing out of the ordinary. The bedroom looked the same, messy silk sheets everywhere. The bathroom was empty, and so were the hallways and living room. The kitchen looked fine too. The dining room—

Keith’s eyes scanned back to the kitchen, squinted, looked up at the dash and then back to the feed. “That little shit.” He threw the tablet in the back seat and threw open the car door. “Come on, Garrett!”

“Back on the last name basis I see, Kogane,” Hunk muttered under his breath as got out of the car and followed his partner to the apartment door. 

At the top of the steps, Keith nodded at Hunk, who procured a key from his pocket. How Hunk managed to talk the spare key out of Rolo was beyond Keith, but he didn’t question it. It didn’t matter to Keith how Hunk was able to do half the things he did as long as they arrested whoever was stealing from these people. The thief may have been stealing from corrupt rich men, but he was still stealing. This thief had to pay for his crimes. 

The two walked into the apartment, quietly stepping about as to not alarm the intruder. Both Hunk and Keith walked through the living room and towards the back of the apartment where the separated: Hunk to the dining room and Keith to the kitchen. The rookie gave his partner a slight nod, signaling the all clear as Keith searched the kitchen. The curtains on the window swayed in the wind, and Keith moved to close it before pausing. The windows weren’t open on the video feed. He turned and looked at the oven before uttering a curse under his breath.

Keith pointed to the ceiling and mouthed  _ upstairs _ . Hunk nodded and lead the way back to the front of the apartment. Keith took the lead and made his way up the stairs with Hunk falling closely on his heels. As they reached the top of the stairs, one of the steps beneath their feet creaked, shattering the silence of the apartment. The two officers stopped in their tracks, listening for any sounds on the second floor. 

Silence. 

Keith motioned for Hunk to keep going and they finally reached the landing of the second floor. Hunk broke off from Keith’s tail and moved to the two doors on the right but Keith motioned for him to stop. There was a soft glow coming from the hallway in front of them. 

_ Window?  _ Hunk mouthed. 

Keith shook his head.  _ Computer? _

Hunk took another look and nodded.  _ Computer _ .

Keith scrunched his face up in confusion. What the hell did a thief want from Rolo’s computer? He jerked his head down the hall and the two of them slowly made their way towards the light. As they got closer, Keith saw the light was pouring through an open doorway. He looked to Hunk, who seemed to understand. Hunk pushed his back to the wall next to Keith who did the same. They inched towards the open doorway until they were right next to the frame. The two looked at each other, took a deep breath, and then turned into the room.

“Freeze!” Keith yelled. 

Sat before them was a teenager sitting in front of Rolo’s desk with his fingers hovering over the keyboard. The three of them stared at each other, no one moving, for not even a second before the kid pulled a thumb drive out of the computer tower and heading towards the window.  

Not missing a beat, Hunk shouted, “He’s trying to use the fire escape!” He ran towards the kid and grabbed the back of his collar, pulling him away from the window. “You’re not going anywhere.”

Keith took out his handcuffs and started walking towards the thief before stopping in the middle of the room. The kid looked him straight in the eyes and Keith could see the stubbornness behind them. No fear. Just sheer determination and stubbornness, maybe just a hint of—? Whatever it was, it was gone before he could figure it out. 

Hunk looked over at his partner. “Officer Kogane,” he said, switching to a more formal acknowledgement. “We should get this kid to the precinct. Captain Slav’s going to want a word with…what’s your name kid?”

The kid just looked away from Hunk and struggled to get away. Keith walked over to the two and stood in front of their thief. He dangled the handcuffs in front of the kid’s face, and he looked up at the officer.  _ God, the kid looks like he wants to rip me to pieces.  _

“Listen kid, we could either let you ride in the back of the car without these cuffs, or we can put them on you and it’ll be really uncomfortable. Choice is yours.” The kid still said nothing.  _ You did the same when you were his age, _ a voice in Keith’s head said. He did his best to ignore it while putting the cuffs on the kid. “Call the precinct, Hunk. Let them know we got our thief.”

  
  


Keith slammed the door closed to the interrogation room and groaned loudly. He wiped a hand over his face and tried to get rid of the frustration. Hunk walked up to him cautiously. “Want me to try for a little while, Keith? You look a little worn down.” Keith just nodded and walked over to his desk as Hunk walked into the interrogation room. Keith sat down and spread his legs as far in front of him as he could and leaned his head over the edge of the chair.

Two hours. Keith had been in that room for two  _ fucking _ hours. And that idiot still refused to open his mouth. Keith shook his head and put his hands over his face again. That stupid thief and his silence irritated him. He tried being nice at first, simply asking for the guy’s name, but nothing. The perp just crossed his arms and kept his head down. An hour. An hour just trying to get his stupid name. When that didn’t work, Keith decided to get other answers.

“Why the Holt Industries donors?”

Silence. The kid just sat in his metal chair, handcuffed to the table in the center of the interrogation room. Keith sighed and shifted in his chair across from the thief, starting to get irritated. No, not starting to get irritated. Already irritated. Irritation getting worse. 

“Why didn’t you take anything from Rolo’s apartment? Why were you on his computer?”

He looked up and gave Keith a look that said, “You’re stupider than you look.” Keith growled and curled his hands into fists.  _ Who did this kid think he is? Who did he think he’s talking to? _

“Listen, kid, I don’t want to get nasty with you. Tell me what we need to know so we can make this easier for you. You don’t want a criminal record at your age, trust me.”

A scoff.  _ What does this kid think he’s doing?  _ Keith thought angrily.  _ He could get in serious trouble and he doesn’t even care? _

_ You didn’t,  _ a small voice in his said back to him and he cursed under his breath. He exhaled heavily in an attempt to calm himself before opening his mouth again. “I understand, okay? I get it. You’re young. You’re trying to prove yourself. You’re trying to be something. But this is not the way to do it. It’s not going to do anything but ruin your life. Please just trust me on that and talk to me.”

Was that an eye roll? Keith squinted. Yes, it definitely was an eye roll. He could feel his right eyebrow start twitching. He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair.

“I’m trying to keep you from spending the rest of your life in prison, kid! Can’t you at least tell me your name?” Keith spat through gritted teeth. 

Nothing. Just staring. 

“Gah!” Keith cried, leaping from his chair and kicking it backward, knocking it over. “That’s it. Just tell me what you were doing!” 

Nothing. Again. 

It went like that for another hour. Just Keith talking at the perp and the kid still saying nothing. He wanted to stab himself. In the eye. Several times, actually. It would have been less painful than that interrogation. 

Keith snorted.  _ Interrogation. That wasn’t a fucking interrogation. That was me talking to a brick wall.  _

The interrogation room slammed and Keith turned his head to see Hunk walk out, stormy faced and muttering under his breathe.

“Any luck, big guy?” Keith asked.

Hunk shot a glare in Keith’s direction. “What do you think, Kogane?” 

Keith looked at the clock. “You were only in there for 10 minutes. What happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Hunk pouted and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Keith couldn’t help but chuckle before rising from his desk. He walked over to the break room and shoved a K Cup into the Keurig, a gift from the mayor for finding his prized poodle when he ran away.  _ How much longer are we expected to do this?  _ Keith thought to himself as the machine brewed his coffee. He sighed and grabbed his now-full coffee cup, returning to his desk.

“Captain Slav wants to know when you’re going to get anything from the perp.” Keith turned his head to see one of his fellow officers sneering at him. “You know, Kogane, if you don’t get that to him, Cap will probably desk you, or transfer you.”

Keith took a sip of his coffee before replying. “Why don’t you go shove it, you prick. Go kiss the captain’s ass instead of being up mine.” With that, he walked away, back to his desk and his partner. 

“You know he’s right.” Hunk said. “Captain Slav…he needs this.”

Keith took another sip of his coffee. “I know, Hunk. I know. We’ll get him the information he wants. I just don’t like people telling me what to do.”

Hunk nodded and glanced towards the interrogation room. “We should probably get back in there.”

Keith nodded and downed his cup of coffee as Hunk watched in pure horror. He looked at the rookie, confused. “What?”

“Keith, that was a hot cup of coffee.”

“My bad,” Keith deadpanned. “I thought it was a shot of rum.” He tossed the paper cup in the garbage before heading back to the interrogation room. “Come on, Garrett. We didn’t have any luck on our own. Let’s try doing this together.”

 

“In another universe, you would have gotten me those reports yesterday.” Hunk groaned and slammed his head on his desk.  _ Why me?  _ He thought.  _ Why?  _ “And in different universe, you would have died because you slammed your head too hard into that desk and cracked your skull.”

Lifting his head and swiveling his chair around, Hunk faced the police captain and his jaw dropped. Before him was Captain Slav pedaling back and forth on a unicycle in full uniform.

“Uh….” Hunk said blandly. “Why?”

Captain Slav followed the rookie’s eyes to the unicycle and back up. “I read that riding a unicycle helps with back alignment,” the captain stated blandly before hopping off. “32 minutes.”

Hunk raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, what?”

The captain looked to Hunk. “32 minutes. After looking through your previous reports and watching how fast you write, type, and analyze situations, it should take you 32 minutes to finish a report. Am I wrong?”

The rookie just blinked, and the captain sighed and continued. “Based on the time of your arrival and now, you should have finished approximately 7.235 reports, meaning I should have seven reports on my desk. I don’t have any.”

“Well, you see—“ Hunk started before being interrupted by Captain Slav.

“I supposed in another universe, though, you would have had all of them completed,” the captain said more to himself than to Hunk. “And in another universe I would have died on the way to the precinct this morning because my unicycle would have gotten stuck in a grate, flinging me into oncoming traffic. And in a third universe, the roof of the precinct would have caved in, crushing us all into fine dust, meaning you wouldn’t have been able to hand in those reports anyway. And in another universe—“

“Hello, Captain. A little early for you multiverse theories, isn’t it?” Hunk prayed to all of his gods and thanked them all individually that they sent Keith to end his misery.

Slav looked toward Keith. “Just asking your partner where his reports are.”

“We’re trying to get our thief—“ Keith started. 

“Ah yes, the thief.” Hunk saw Keith stiffen, visibly annoyed by being cut off by the captain. “In another universe, you would have cracked him like an egg. And in another he would have gotten away. He could have killed you in another, or killed himself in even yet another. Maybe you would have killed him in another. In one universe, Shirogane would have been here by now instead of making me wait an hour for him.”

Keith’s eyes widened. “Shirogane…?”

“Yes. According to my calculations, you should have had that thief talking in 2.395 minutes. It has taken over 4 hours. In another universe, I would have called Shirogane from the very beginning to do this,” Keith’s jaw tensed. “but in the universe, the entire city burns down so I thought I’d wait.”

“Shirogane?” Hunk asked. “As in Takashi Shirogane?”

“The one and the same.” A voice said from behind the captain. Everyone turned to see a tall man dressed in all black standing there. He looked to Keith. “Hey there, Kogane. It’s been a while.” 


	2. Chapter 2

Takashi woke up to his phone ringing from his side table. Putting it up to his ear, he mumbled some incoherent words into the receiver.

“Detective Shirogane. It is Captain Slav from the precinct.” The detective groaned inwardly. It’s too early for this shit. “It is currently 2:13 in the morning. Would 47 minutes and 23 seconds be enough time for you?”

Takashi scrunched his face up in confusion and sat up. “Enough time for what?”

“To get to the precinct. I understand that it would normally take 27 minutes and 39 seconds for you to get here, but seeing as it is early, I will allow you an extra 19 minutes and 44 seconds.”

“Can’t this wait--”

“47 minutes and 23 seconds. Don’t be late, detective.” The line went dead.

Takashi groaned again as he set the phone back down on his side table. He rolled out of bed, stretching a bit. He walked over to his closet, grabbing some sweatpants and pulling them over his black boxer briefs. Takashi ran his left hand through his hair and made his way to the bathroom. He grabbed his toothbrush, attempting to put toothpaste on it with his one hand. Instead, however, he ended up getting half the tube of the toothpaste all over the mirror. He stared at the mirror for a second, down at his toothbrush, and then back at the mirror before picking up the brush and running it through the toothpaste and brushing his teeth.  
The detective made his way down to the kitchen after brushing his teeth and popped a couple of pieces of bread into the toaster. He grabbed himself a cup and attempted pouring himself some orange juice before spilling it everywhere.

“Fuck,” Takashi groaned. He ran back up to his room and grabbed the black metal prosthetic leaning against the wall. Attaching it to his right bicep, he flexed his arm and curled his fingers a few times before heading back downstairs. Takashi sniffed the air and smelled something burning.

“Double fuck.” He ran to the toaster and pulled out the burnt toast. He tossed them in the trash and put two new pieces of bread in the toaster, carefully watching them this time. He pulled them out of the toaster right as he received a text message from the police captain.

_22 minutes and 8 seconds, detective._

Takashi tossed his phone on the table and grabbed the butter from his fridge, taking his sweet time buttering his toast and eating his breakfast. It was almost 3 in the morning. Like hell he was going to rush to get to work at 3 in the morning. He took another bite of toast as he received another text from the captain.

_Don’t ignore me, detective. That’s not nice._

Takashi grinned and finished his toast. I am not coming in early. Sorry, cap. He walked back up to his room, pulled out some clothes from the very back of his closet and went to get ready.

 

Keith stormed into Slav’s office and slammed the door shut, immediately starting to pace back and forth with anger. “I understand bringing Shirogane in on this because he is the best at interrogating, I understand him helping us, but giving him control of the case? Captain, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Slav motioned for him to sit down, but Keith remained standing. The captain sighed. “Tell me, Kogane. What has this kid stolen?”

Keith’s eyebrows drew together in confusion. “What?”

“What has the kid stolen?” the captain asked again. “Items. What did he take?”

Keith thought back through the files. “Shoes, a wallet, a stereo.” He tried to think of more, but everything else evaded him.

The captain nodded. “Now tell me, Kogane. Why break into a very rich person’s house and only take one thing from each place instead of as much as you can carry? Why steal someone’s shoes when you can take all their money in their house?”

“I don’t…I don’t know.” Keith said quietly, stumbling over his word, still confused as to why the captain was asking these questions.

“You said you saw the thief on Rolo’s computer. I don’t believe our thief wanted to steal items.” The captain stated. “That’s why I brought in the detective. That’s why I want him to take over. This is no longer just petty crime. This is more.” Slav stood up, grabbed a file that was sitting on top of his desk, and handed it to Keith. “Give this to Shirogane for me, will you? This is the last file he needs.”

Keith clenched his jaw as he took the file from the captain and left the office. He knew a dismissal when he heard one. He started to make his way across the precinct to Detective Shirogane’s makeshift office, every step filled with silent frustration.

“Surprised you got everything to fit in this broom closet.”

The detective spun around to see Keith standing in the doorframe, looking around the tiny room. He just shrugged, eyeing the mop in the corner. “I’m surprised the custodians haven’t kicked me out yet, to be quite honest.”

Keith snorted and walked into the room a little more. “By the way, thanks for helping with the case, Takashi.” He looked anything but thankful.

The detective just shook his head and smiled a bit. “It’s been years since the last time we saw each other and you call me Takashi?” He missed his childhood nickname. He missed his baby cousin calling him Shiro.

Keith just handed over a file. “Here’s everything you need to know about these robberies. Look it over and then go to the interrogation room. He’s still there, and the captain is getting impatient.”

Shiro nodded. “Thanks, Keith.”

Keith looked down at the file, clenched his jaw, and walked away. “Let me know if you need anything,” he shouted when he was halfway down the hall.

 

Hunk watched Keith storm out of the captain’s office and towards the tiny broom closet he had pushed a desk into just a little while ago. It was frustrating, to say the least, to have Captain Slav take away this case from them. He silently cursed himself for telling the captain he believed this was about more than just stealing from the rich. He cursed himself for being to perceptive. If he had just kept his mouth shut, he and Keith could have solved this case. He could have proved himself to—no, that didn’t matter anymore. Detective Shirogane was leading the case now. He probably wouldn’t even want a rookie there to make a mess of things.

“Hey Hunk,” his partner’s voice snapped him from his thoughts. Hunk just nodded in acknowledgement. “Everything okay?”

He sighed. “Detective Shirogane—“

“I know.” Keith said through gritted teeth. “I know. But it’ll be okay. I’m pretty sure Shiro is going to want our help. Or, at least your help.”

Hunk raised an eyebrow in doubt. “I highly doubt the detective would want a rookie around making a giant mess of everything.”

“Hunk, you’re more than half the reason we even got the guy. Why wouldn’t he want your help?”

“It’s just, I can’t help but feel…” Hunk stumbled over his words in frustration. Why was it so damn hard to just talk? He took a deep breath. “I can’t help but feel like the reason he took over was my fault, Keith. I shouldn’t have told the captain that I thought this was more than stealing. I shouldn’t have told him. This would still be our case.”

Keith just shook his head. He knew that no matter what he said, Hunk would still believe that this was his fault. He still had to try though. “It’s fine, Hunk. Honestly. I guess I was just really excited about having my own case for once that I forgot I don’t even know what to do. I’ve never dealt with anything so...strange.”

Hunk knew it was anything but fine from looking at his partner’s face, but he decided to drop it. Keith still had a point. Neither of them knew how to handle this weird of a case. Maybe it was better now that Detective Shirogane—

“Have you been calling the detective _Shiro_?” Hunk asked.

“Uh…yeah.” Keith said a little sheepishly. “He’s my cousin.”

Hunk’s eyes went wide and his jaw dropped almost to the floor. “You and the detective are cousins?”

Keith just nodded, not really understanding what the big problem was. “Yeah. We used to live together.”

“With your cousin? You used to live with your cousin?” Hunk asked and Keith nodded again. “Why?”

“It’s a long story. I promise I’ll tell you, just not right now.” Keith said. “Anyways, have you slept at all yet?”

Hunk shook his head and rubbed his eyes. “Not yet.

“Why don’t you go take a nap in the break room? We keep a pad of blankets under the shelf on the far wall for whenever we get tired. Here.” Keith tossed Hunk a hot pink blindfold with ‘sassy’ written on it in pink glitter. “We don’t turn the lights off. It’d be too obvious. You’ll need that.”  
Hunk looked it over before looking back at Keith. “Where did you get this? Is this, like, the precinct blindfold? Because that’s kind of gross.” Hunk paused and looked down at the blindfold in his hands again. “And unsanitary.”

Keith laughed. “No. It’s actually mine. Got it as a Secret Santa present a few years back.”

“Why?” Hunk asked.

“It was a gag gift. Because I don’t take naps, no matter how late it gets, no matter how much work I have to do.” Keith shrugged. “It was something I wouldn’t use, but I’ve kept it in my desk drawer just in case I got tired. Now go. Take a nap. I’ll wake you up if Shiro needs our help. I promise.”

Hunk nodded and walked off to the break room with Keith’s blindfold. Taking a nap sounded good at that precise moment. He looked at the clock. Almost 7 AM. He’s been awake for almost 24 hours. Yeah, a nap sounded really good at that moment.

 

Shiro rubbed his eyes, looked down at the files, and rubbed his eyes again. What. The absolute. Fuck? Why break into rich people’s homes and only steal vases or lamps or one left shoe? What was the point? No wonder Kogane and Garrett couldn’t get anything. This kid was an absolute nut case. A fucking shoe. He stole a fucking shoe from one of the richest women in the country and didn’t take anything else. Shiro got up from his desk started for the interrogation room. He wanted answers. And he wanted them now.

Keith and Hunk saw Shiro making his way through the precinct and followed him towards the interrogation room.

“What’s the plan, detective?” Hunk asked. “Did you get anything from the files? Is something missing? Because I double and triple checked that everything related to the case was in there. I wrote half of that file myself, too, so if you have any questions…”

“The only questions I have are for this thief.” Shiro said. “We’re getting answers.”

Keith nodded and threw the door open. “Alright kid, this is Detective Takashi Shirogane. He’s going to be questioning you now.” The thief’s head snapped up, eyes wide.

Shiro paused in the doorway, giving the kid a once over, and cursing under his breath, once, twice, then a third time. He backed out of the doorway, looked away and walked back into the room. “Katie?”


	3. Chapter 3

Hunk looked to his partner.  _ Katie? _ Keith just shrugged, looking just as confused. He thought back, but he couldn’t remember Shiro ever mentioning any Katie to him before. Then again, Keith never really gave his cousin the chance. He watched Shiro walk to the table and slowly sit down in front of their thief. 

“Katie, I swear to god--”

“They have Matt,” the kid, Katie, said. 

Shiro stilled and looked  at her. “What?”

“Matt! They have him!” She attempted to slam her hands down, but only managed to bang the cuffs around her wrists together. “I need to go get him! Do you understand what they could be doing to him right now? Do you understand the amount of information he has? How valuable that information is?”

He put his hands up, stopping her. “Hold on. Who has him? What’s going on, Katie?”

She eyed Keith and Hunk and then looked back at the detective, her lips pressed into a thin line. She leaned back into her chair, crossed her arms, and looked away. 

“Katie please.” She didn’t move.  _ She’s as stubborn as ever _ . Shiro turned to look at the two officers standing behind him. “Give us a sec, will you?”

After the door shut behind the two officers, Shiro sat down and looked at the girl in front of him. It felt like just yesterday she was hounding him and Matt to let her go to college with them. Oh, how time flies.

“I’m not saying anything until you get these off of me,” she said and held up her cuffed hands. Shiro leaned forward and unlocked the cuffs. Katie rubbed her wrists. 

“Pidge.” Shiro cocked an eyebrow and Katie just sighed and looked at him. “Matt always called me Pidge. And I would appreciate it if you did too.”

Shiro nodded. “Okay, Pidge, start from the beginning. Don’t leave anything out.”

She took a deep breath. “I was visiting Matt at his apartment around six or seven weeks ago. We were playing video games one night in the living room when there was a knock on the front door. Matt went to go answer it and I heard him shout and I went to see what was happening and…”

She put her head in her hands. “There were people dressed all in black in the apartment. They were hitting him or something, trying to get him out of the apartment. I grabbed the first thing I could and ran up to them and started hitting them but they ended up grabbing me too and they tied us up and then shoved us in the trunk of a car.”

“Who took you?” the detective asked. Pidge pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and slid it across the table. It had a purple symbol on it, almost like an ‘x’ with the bottom halves of the slashes extended straight down and a third line extending from the center down.  _ Fuck. This is not good. _

“You know the symbol. Don’t you?” Pidge asked.

“Galra gang.” It was almost a whisper.

Pidge nodded. “Galra gang.”

Shiro cursed under his breath. He was not liking the way this was going. At all. When he noticed that Pidge had stopped talking, he motioned for her to continue. She just shook her head and looked away, biting her bottom lip, tears in her eyes. “Kati--Pidge. I know this is hard for you. But we can’t help you or Matt unless you tell me what happened. Okay?” He watched her wipe her eyes and nod. “Okay. What next?”

“We got out at some sort of little abandoned house, I think. I don’t know. I’m not sure. I know it took...maybe...40 minutes? For us to get there. They took me into a small room and untied me, but I don’t know where they took Matt. I didn’t see him after that.”

“How’d you get away?”

Pidge shrugged. “I got lucky, I guess. They kept the door to my room locked except when they needed to give me food, which was twice a day. Then they’d come by and grab the food trays. After a day or two of me being there, I heard the guy who came to give me food talking to another guy outside about how it was just the two of them there so I took the food tray and and hit them both over the head until they passed out. I locked them in the room and went around the house looking for Matt, but he wasn’t there.

“I did find a room filled with plans and files. I saw one with Holt Industries on it, so I grabbed it.” Pidge noticed the confused look on Shiro’s face. “Seriously? Holt Industries? My family’s company? They do ridiculous amounts of research in new tech and drugs, reusable energy, shit like that.”

“I know what Holt Industries is. I just want to know why they had files on it.” Shiro stated. He wasn’t an idiot, everyone knew Holt Industries. Like Pidge had said, they did research in new tech and drugs, reusable energy, bio-engineering, and almost everything else. They’re the reason Shiro had such a great prosthetic as he did. Titanium grade metal and flexibility as good as a real arm. Matt was the one who made it for him, the one who stayed up for weeks making sure it worked and was durable enough for him to wear. Matt was the reason he was able to stay a detective. He was the reason for a lot. 

Pidge broke him out of his thoughts. “Well, I was going to look through it, but I heard shouting from the room I locked the two guys in. So I grabbed the file and ran. I snuck onto a bus and headed back to Matt’s apartment. When I got there, I looked through the file and saw that all the people who donated to my family’s company for drug research also give money to the Galra. They’re using my family’s company for something.”

“That’s why you were stealing. As a cover to get into their personal things.” Pidge nodded and Shiro sat back in his chair. “What did you find?”

“Encrypted emails between the donors and the gang. Nothing super in depth, they used a lot of code so it wasn’t super obvious what they were talking about. All I could get was that they were looking into some research my parents were doing. I don’t know for what.”

“And Matt?”

Pidge shrugged. “I don’t know. I wasn’t able to find any information on that. But if they were looking into research Holt Industries was doing, then Matt is they guy they need. He works primarily in research. Your arm was a special case.”

Shiro ran a hand over his face. This was definitely not how he pictured his day to be going. “Alright, Pidge. If I’m going to find your brother, you’re going to have to tell Officers Kogane and Garrett about all this, too.”

Pidge nodded. “One condition: I want to help.”

“No. Absolutely not.” The captain said. “We’re not letting a civilian--much less a  _ thief _ \--help with an ongoing investigation.”

Shiro sighed, frustrated. He had spent the last hour and a half explaining to the captain what he had learned in the interrogation room in between ridiculous questions like, “Do you suspect that in another universe, the Galra would have taken Katie instead?” and “What was the exact time she had gotten to the house? The very second?” It was tiring, and all Shiro really wanted to do was sleep. 

“She knows more than she’s letting on, I’m sure of it.” Shiro countered. “And, she can be useful.”

Slav stared at Shiro. “I won’t say it again, Detective. She is not allowed to work with you.”

Shiro clenched his jaw. “I understand she’s a civilian and a thief, but she’s only looking for her brother. She is scared, Captain Slav. She’s just a kid. We can help her, but to do so, we need her help. I understand you’re my superior, but I don’t mind getting fired if it means she gets her family back.”

“You’re too emotional for your own good, Shirogane.” Slav said, almost inaudibly. “Fine. But if she gets hurt, if she disrupts this investigation, it’s on you.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. I'm super super late. I'm so sorry y'all. I've been really busy with college. Hopefully, now that I'm out for the summer, I'll be able to update a lot more. Just a short chapter to hold you over until the next one!


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